26 September 2026
Designed power subsystem for the device, which included estimation of the power consumption of each electrical component. From the system power consumption, I derived a required battery capacity to sustain 2 hours of operation. From that, I chose a 20000mAh power bank to provide 65W of power, enough to avoid any brownouts at 12V, 4A of current draw. Also designed the interface for getting power to the Ultra96-V2, which went through a USB-C to 5.5mm x 2.1mm barrel jack adapter, as well as another adapter to the required 4.75mm x 1.7mm port on the Ultra96-V2.
Quantified all design requirements for the microphone array subsystem, which included equations to derive the sound pressure level created by a gas leak, and the microphone signal to noise ratio (SNR) required for range detection. Also derived the array aperture required for angular resolution of two different leaks. All these quantitative derviations are in the Design Report.
Finalized the PCB components required (the microphones themselves, the exact models of capacitors to use). Downloaded KiCad and designed the schematic for the components. Place and routed the components on the PCB layout, ran Design Rule Check (DRC) to verify that all components are connected. Created gerber files and got a price quotation from JLCPCB ($30) for 5 pieces of PCB.
Schedule Status
The physical hardware implementation is on track, with the PCB design complete. Since PCB fabrication and shipping will take some time, this will be done in parallel with the shipping of other physical components (camera, LCD screen etc.) On track to receiving all materials and starting the build process right after fall break.
Goals for next week:
Verify that PCB schematic and layout is correct (visual inspection of all traces and connections) before sending it out for fabrication. Work on refining the design report. Begin purchasing the components required for the assembly of a prototype.